Trahan Wins Medalist Honors At Las Vegas Intercollegiate

March 12, 2000

LAS VEGAS — Freshman D.J. Trahan (Inman, SC, Dorman HS) fired a final round 66, then won a three-hole playoff against Matt Brost of Texas to win medalist honors at the prestigious Las Vegas Intercollegiate. The event was held at the Desert Inn Country Club in Las Vegas, the same course that plays host to a PGA event.

Clemson finished sixth as a team, but the Tigers were just two shots from the winning score. It was one of the closest team races in Clemson golf history. Arizona State won the event in a playoff with Oklahoma State and Minnesota. All three teams shot 848 for the event. Texas and Georgia Tech tied for fourth at 849, just a shot back. Clemson was sixth at 850. Defending NCAA Champion Georgia was seventh at 860. Houston and host school UNLV were eight at 868, while New Mexico and North Carolina were 10th at 869. Florida was 12th at 874, Virginia 13th at 876 and South Carolina last at 883.

Trahan won the tournament against a field that included 10 of the top 20 teams in the nation and 10 of the top 25 individuals in the nation. The field included former US Amateur Champion Matt Kuchar, reigning US Amateur Champion David Gossett of Texas, 1998 NCAA Champion James McLean of Minnesota and Bryce Molder of Georgia Tech, the current number-one ranked player in the nation.

Trahan won the event with a 207 score for the 54 holes. He tied the Clemson record for lowest tournament score by a freshman and for best score versus par by a freshman. His nine-under par tied the freshman record also held by Chris Patton, who shot a -9 at the Gamecock Invitational in 1997.

Trahan, a native of Inman, SC and Dorman High School, is now 10-under par for the season and has been under par in four of his five tournaments. He finished eighth at the San Juan Shootout in the first event of the Spring. He had rounds of 73-68-66 for this past weekend. The 66 was a season best lowest competitive round by a Clemson freshman since Charles Warren shot a 66 at the Wofford Invitational in 1995. He was just the third freshman in Clemson history to shoot a 66 or better. The 66 was the low round of the entire tournament by any individual.

Clemson shot a 277 score as a team on Sunday, its second best team round of the year and the best score of the day by four strokes. The Tigers trailed by 16 strokes entering the final day and came within two shots of the title.

Helping Trahan was junior Lucas Glover, who fired a 67 on the final day. Jonathan Byrd shot a 70, giving John Engler had a 74 and Ben Duncan shot a 76 to round out Clemson’s five players.

Byrd finished with a 211 score for the event, a seventh place finish, the 23rd top 10 finish of his Clemson career. Glover and Engler finished 35th with 219 scores, while Ben Duncan finished 67th with a 228 score. Glover, a native of Greenville, struggled in the first two rounds with scores of 77-75 before he caught fire on Sunday.

Clemson will next be in action at the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, GA March 25-26.

Clemson at the Las Vegas Intercollegiate